Yama no Kuni
by KittenKin
Summary: A look at what Kurogane and Fai's lives were like in Yama, not just the few hours a night they spent in battle at the sky-castle. Six months is a long time to be stuck with someone you mistrust; too long in fact, to still mistrust them in the end.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** Written for reshki for the 2014 KuroFai Gift Exchange at the KuroFai community on Dreamwidth. This is for wish #2: "Yama: The Untold and Preferably Non-Angsty Story". The entire story is already complete (posted in one big smush on my Dreamwidth site) since the deadline for delivering the gift is tomorrow (MADE IT, *phew*), but I'm going to post it in bits here so that I can edit a bit as I go if need be. ^^

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He fell through fifteen feet of cold dry air and landed solidly on his feet, folding down into a crouch to lessen the impact shuddering up through the flesh and bone of him. Kurogane touched one hand down upon the ground as if to steady himself and dragged shallow scuffs through the dust mantling the rocky surface. Rubbing the gritty soil almost absently between his fingers, he stood up and took in his surroundings.

Tall spires and jagged mounds of rock cut the horizon all about him, looking more like debris piled together than naturally formed hills and mountains. A glaring white moon dominated the sky, impossibly large, intimidatingly close, burning the air with its brilliance and throwing pitch black shadows wherever its light could not reach. It was a harsh landscape, made all the more so by the battle raging in all the nooks and crannies of it. Soldiers in white and red, soldiers in black and blue, some mounted on beasts that seemed a cross between horse and lizard, and everywhere the flash of steel.

No wizard, no kids, no dumpling.

The air was heavy with shouts and screams, the thudding strike of hooves against rock and the familiar clash when weapons met; thousands of sharp sounds massing together into a dull roar. It was a sound he knew well and Kurogane felt it seep into him, letting him begin to know the breath and beat of the place. He was somewhat apart from the thick of battle though still surrounded by soldiers, but his happening to be standing in shadows and clothed in black helped to hide him from immediate notice. All eyes were currently on more interesting targets, and he took the opportunity to search the sky from which he'd fallen.

Fortuitous, for just at that moment Fai appeared high above him, looking like a great pale bird that had been shot out of the air and was now fluttering fast to an ignominious end. For a moment Kurogane simply watched and waited, but then cursed under his breath and darted forward a few feet. Fai was falling sideway to the ground and though awake and alert, was making no effort to right himself.

In another split second, the mage finally seemed to come to a realization of his predicament and twisted slightly in the air, but by then Kurogane was directly under him, arms out and eyes fixed. There was no time left for Fai to take any action but to still himself against instinct and throw his arms out as well, and then they crashed, first together and then into the ground.

"The hell was that?!" snapped Kurogane as soon as he could gather up the breath that had been knocked out of him, honestly surprised that the man should make such a hash of what was by now habit. The wizard was agile and acrobatic, and if they ever landed all in a clumsy tangle of limbs because the bun had dropped them too close to the ground for any maneuvers, still he always walked away from it without so much as a bruise or cricked hip. This time, however, he'd had plenty of time to stick his landing and yet had come close to breaking himself.

The blond was distracted yet, staring now at the sky then casting all around him and even stopping once to stare at nothing at all as if searching for some thought within himself. At Kurogane's snarl he blinked and finally looked dead-on at the ninja, eyes wide and strangely dark in the shadows of a great boulder. Thin lips parted but Kurogane only caught a fragment of the few syllables that were spoken, words quickly muffled and swept away by the cacophony of battle.

Other voices came through clearer than Fai's in the thin, sharp air and Kurogane gritted his teeth as he looked over the mage's shoulder. Two soldiers in black and blue uniforms were pointing for the benefit of a third mounted on one of those dragonish beasts, and others were shouting about strangers, causing yet more heads to turn their way.

"Bun's got to be nearby at least, even if they're not in sight yet," he noted upon realizing that the shouts were intelligible, then grabbed at the blond's elbow to urge him to his feet. "Come on, get up; we've been spotted."

His companion complied but was sluggish about it, too preoccupied to move quickly enough for the ninja's satisfaction, and Kurogane was soon glancing down impatiently.

"What's got into you?"

Fai shook his head, gave a soft huff of a laugh and spoke again, louder this time, and then it was Kurogane's turn to stare as a string of incomprehensible babble spilled forth.

He knew the wizard's voice but was only used to hearing it woven into the measured beat of his native language. Now it came out in a tumble of slippery syllables, consonants melting together in ways he knew his own tongue could never match. A quick glance at the wizard's mouth showed him those lips moving in time with the sounds flowing forth, confirming what he'd already guessed, while Fai gave a shrug and rubbed at the back of his own head to complete the impression of helpless, humorous resignation.

"Separated from that useless dumpling again, aren't we?" he groused, but frowned in puzzlement even as he said it. There was no time for a thoughtful drawing of conclusions, unfortunately; the soldiers were almost upon them and Kurogane had barely two seconds to spare for a quick gut-jump. He cautioned the wizard to silence with a suppressing gesture over the other man's mouth and then stepped forward to meet the mounted soldier who was in the lead. The ninja's left thumb loosened Souhi in its scabbard but his right hand was open and down by his side; a gesture of cautious peace made into a subtle threat by the way he confidently strode forward to meet a superior force.

He was ignored.

The officer seemed to only look at him by accident, as if his gaze had inadvertently bumped into the ninja in its haste to land upon the wizard just behind him. The stranger stopped a respectful distance away and everyone following on foot halted three paces even further back. More soldiers were joining the spectacle, gathered about them now in every direction as if to block escape, and yet their manner was not threatening nor even fearful. If anything it seemed deferential, with some few shallow nods accompanying lowered swords and spears.

"Captain Inoue, Third Company of the Moon Battalion under His Majesty Yasha, who rules Yama," the officer said with a formal nod. "We would move you somewhere safer, if you are willing. The king is engaged in battle but will gladly give you a meeting as soon as all is over for the night."

Though the man had spoken to Fai, Kurogane put himself forward to respond.

"We're willing," he agreed, and had to hold himself back from sighing and rolling his eyes as the officer frowned at his apparent presumption.

"Who are you?" the mounted man challenged, looking hard at Kurogane for the first time. The clothes the ninja was wearing were given a good looking-over, and Fai was glanced back at as if for comparison once and again. Of the two, the ninja more closely resembled the soldiers in blue and black, for he shared the black hair and dusky skin tone that looked to be common among them, and yet it was the wizard who had been marked as one to approach in friendly manner.

"I speak for him," Kurogane said, hoping it was vague enough to suit whatever assumptions the people of this new world had brought to the table, whether they thought Fai to be an enemy officer come to treat with them in secret or some other such thing. However it was, they seemed to accord him automatic respect despite not knowing anything about him, and Kurogane saw no gain in revealing that the blond knew no more of their language than a child new born.

It seemed to work, for Captain Inoue frowned thoughtfully and then addressed Fai once more.

"Is it true?" He jabbed a finger at Kurogane and then gestured more respectfully with an open hand toward Fai. "This one is with you?"

The ninja had to bite back a growl explaining that the situation was more aptly described as that this silly, smiling, thousand-faced fool was with _him_. Instead he looked at the wizard too, trying to convey with the barest nod of his head that Fai should make some gesture or noise of agreement.

Whether the wizard caught the hint or made an educated guess Kurogane did not know, but he put a strangely neutral smile on his face and took a step nearer to the ninja so that he could lay one hand lightly upon the other man's arm as if to reassure or restrain him. He looked to Kurogane and gave him a smile that would look more natural, more warm to anyone who did not know him, and then dropped it away entirely to give a look of mere cool civility and a short nod to the officer.

The wizard was out of place with his fair looks and dressed not at all impressively in a plain white robe, yet his bearing was confident. More than that in fact. He stood unusually tall and still, no trace now of his usual flapping and flamboyance, and somehow gave the impression of looking down at the man on horseback from under half-dropped lids. This was not the silly, smiling wizard nor yet the nebulous fugitive hidden underneath the fluff. This was a man of good blood and breeding, superior and standing in full assurance of it.

Kurogane tried not to be impressed.


	2. Chapter 2

The mage was ushered into their private rooms first while Kurogane silently stood aside in the hall, but as soon as his own notions of bare minimal civility allowed it he nodded a perfunctory thanks to the servants and dismissed them, shutting the sliding doors in their faces with a decisive clack. Ignoring his remaining companion for the moment, he quickly scanned the room as he had all the others they'd been escorted to and through this night. And not just rooms but terraces and audience chambers and endless corridors too.

Yasha's kingseat was vast and unnecessarily sprawling to Kurogane's mind; too many sharp corners and shadowy alcoves where enemies could hide. The bath house had been a welcome respite but by the gods he was happy to finally be left somewhat alone so that he could stop and take full stock of their situation.

Their landing had been into a harsh, almost alien landscape of moonlight and shadow, blood and blades, but it had proven to be only a way-station of sorts. The actual country they were now guests of reminded Kurogane so strongly of home that he had to struggle against a tendency to relax his guard. Focusing on remaining vigilant as behooved him in a strange - no matter how familiar - world helped distract him from the persistent pang that he refused to acknowledge as homesickness.

It had been a long strange journey thus far, and he predicted darkly that it would turn out to be far longer and stranger yet. The ninja was used to being on alert for danger, even for days and weeks on end at times, but this was different. He had no way to predict when he would get home, whether it would be tomorrow or ten years from now, and until he was home there was no security for him. There was no trusting another to watch his back while he caught a few hours of sleep. Not really. Not the way he had when at home, alongside men and women who had paid for his trust countless times over with their own blood. On this journey he fought alongside his companions, slept in their presence, ate food they'd prepared and downed drinks they'd poured for him but never truly relaxed.

He would have given much to be able to spend even one hour with his hand loose around a cup of rice wine, familiar scents and sensations drawing the tension out of his shoulders while letting a well-known voice wash over him without needing to pay much attention to the words.

At least this new world seemed safe enough, as far as he could tell after just a few hours. It was not home, but it was not bad either. The quarters they'd been assigned were several cuts above average, in point of fact; sturdy furnishings devoid of too-fragile carvings but polished to a glossy sheen, everything clean and in good repair, and little luxuries like down-stuffed cushions and elegant paintings scattered about. They had been welcomed as honored guests, and their quarters showed it.

The front room was a great open rectangle with hardly any shadows to investigate, and he quickly moved on. The single set of doors that led further in opened into a more private space, at first glance much the same as the other room but to Kurogane's eyes obviously meant to be their sleeping quarters. There were sliding doors set into the walls that he guessed would open to reveal storage space as well as low work tables and various chests and drawers and folding panels.

Half the room was left clear, leaving room for bedding to be spread out when they were ready for sleep. He walked each woven panel that made up the floor as he had in the first room, making note of the feel of them under his feet and where the support beams were while looking into the closets and pressing against the walls here and there. He frowned narrowly while scrutinizing the ceiling and then finally dropped his eyes to the man who'd followed him into the second room.

He'd noticed the mage eyeing him oddly at one point, long stares at his face and a few glances down at his sword. Once he'd had a chance to get a good look at the man in decent lighting Kurogane had stared as well, unnerved by the inky blackness of eyes that had often caught him by surprise before with how light and sparkling they could be in certain lights. The ninja then realized that the mage had been looking to Souhi to reassure himself that the man who'd caught him was indeed the same Kurogane he'd been traveling with and not this world's own version.

He picked up a small rectangular mirror off of a table now and glanced in it to confirm that his eyes too were turned black before handing the glass to the mage. Fai seemed disturbed by his blue eyes gone so dark, not just surprised or curious, and spent some time staring into his own reflection. Kurogane left him to it while pondering over how to give a situation report to someone whose language he knew not one word of, and after a minute of poking around and considering options, he gathered up some writing materials from a chest of shallow drawers and spread them out over the largest table.

The most important item was simple enough to communicate. After waving Fai over, Kurogane tapped him lightly on the chest and made a show of shushing him even though the blond hadn't made a peep. The ninja then pointed to himself.

"I'll do all the talking, got it?" he asked, just for the sake of saying something as part of his pantomime. Fai nodded understanding and made first an odd little sealing gesture over his own mouth, then a duck-quack sort of hand-flap after pointing to Kurogane.

After that, the conversation - such as it was - got a bit complicated. Kurogane managed to illustrate a moon, the floating castle in the sky and the kingdom of Yama with some simple drawings. Five strips of paper torn away from an edge were balled up and named off one by one to represent their little group. He took the two paper balls that had been designated as the mage and himself and dropped them first onto the floating castle, then nudged them onto the simple drawing of a castle and forest representing Yama, while the remaining three were left off-paper. A timepiece of sorts was drawn onto another page then, with a sun and moon chasing each other around a great circle with marks at regular intervals.

It took a few repetitions, but eventually Kurogane managed to convey to Fai that every night, from moonrise until midnight, they would be returning to the floating island in the sky. Once the mage grasped that concept, he held the remaining three wads of paper above the island and mimed dropping them, quirking his eyebrows up to ask if Kurogane thought their currently missing companions would also land there eventually. The ninja had considered it and couldn't dismiss the theory outright. He had a notion that he'd slipped into that rushing void between worlds just a shoulder's breadth ahead of the mage and yet had landed several minutes ahead. Who knew but that whatever distance had been between them and the kids meant that it would be hours or days yet before they arrived.

_If_ they arrived.

It was also possible that they were become even more separated than before, and that the others were already landed elsewhere, not merely still in transit. What-ifs only led to never-ending mazes of possibilities, however, and so Kurogane merely shrugged in response. During his brief conference with this country's king, he'd explained - among other things - that they were seeking their companions and had given a brief description of the kid and princess, leaving out eye color in case their eyes were also turned black. Yasha-ou had very obligingly promised to put the word out among his subjects and let Kurogane know if two such youngsters were spotted, either here or at the sky-castle. They would have to wait and see.

Putting that aside for now, he next attempted to tell the mage of his sense that they were no longer being watched. There were guards all about the castle and curious servants swarming everywhere of course, but those were not the eyes he was concerned with. It was the faint prickle at his neck that told of interest deeper than mere curiosity or natural caution, darker than simple suspicion or fear of strangers, that was suddenly dissipated.

Kurogane grabbed some more paper and made quick little dots, naming them off as Hanshin Kyouwa, Koryo and so on instead of attempting to draw recognizable scenes. He gathered together their scattered group again and placed them in the first world, and then made another paper ball and hovered it nearby. Pointing back and forth between his eyes and their little paper group got a string of funny little noises and a solemn nod from the mage, and Fai proved his understanding by moving their group to the next world-dot himself and then taking the lone paper wad from Kurogane's hand to make it follow along at a distance.

When they once again moved their own markers to Yama and put the papers for the kids and bun somewhere between the last world and this one, Kurogane closed his fist over the spy-paper. Fai looked at the ninja's hand for a moment, a beat more serious than before. He tapped his own chest, pointed at the shut-away paper and nodded again.

_Me too._

One thing more and then Kurogane decided that that was enough for the night. Drawing the piece of paper with the timepiece near once more, he tapped out the current approximate time, mimed putting his head down for rest, showed the blond when they would rise the next day, and then tapped at moonrise.

"We'll join Yama's army at the sky-castle," he said, moving their paper balls to the little spiky inkblot. On impulse he shredded a bit more paper and gathered up two small piles of scraps, one on each side of the inkblot. "Yama, Yasha-ou," he noted, circling one scrap-army with his finger and pulling out the largest scrap to lead it, then adding his paper wad and Fai's to that pile. Fai nodded. Then Kurogane gestured to the other pile of shredded paper and chose a leader for that army as well.

"Shura, and Ashura-ou," he said, and watched as Fai's face froze mid-nod and then quickly melted into a serene smile very like one of the carved wooden masks used in stage plays back home. The mage nodded one more time in understanding and then gave Kurogane a polite, inquiring look of slightly raised eyebrows and mixed boredom and anticipation.

_Are we done?_

Kurogane gave him a good long glare but to no effect. He could see through the top layer of falsehood but not well enough to actually read what lay underneath. If Fai chose not to give anything away, he only gave away the fact that he was in fact hiding something, and nothing more.

For now, at least, they were done.

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**Author's Notes:** FYI, Fai's distraction in the previous chapter while falling into this world was due to his shock at feeling Reed's surveillance suddenly cut off. I extrapolated his use of magical spidey senses in LeCourt to his having an innate sixth sense similar to Kurogane's ability to perceive "ki". I like the thought that Fai would feel a slight sense of temporary relief while in Yama. He knows that the journey will continue and that his terrible duties still await him, but for now, while he waits for the children to rejoin them, he can have a little bit of a breather.


	3. Chapter 3

"Our histories go back well over a thousand years and even the earliest scrolls speak of how we have always defended the sky-castle against attackers," the guide declared proudly. "There used to be eight other armies who were called there every night, perhaps more long ago, but most have died out or accepted defeat, and now only the fire kingdom remains to challenge us. We will prevail, however! The sky-castle belongs to the night; we of Yama, who revere the wolf and the moon's pure light, are its rightful guardians."

Their guide paused expectantly and Kurogane mustered up a decently appreciative noise and a nod. The young man was a reedy, scholarly sort and passionately enthusiastic about history and his own country, which Kurogane had no real problem with. It was far easier to put up with than the mage's teasing, for a certainty. It even reminded him somewhat of the kid, though he refused admit to himself that it was something that made him put up better with the guide's nearly non-stop chatter.

He would go so far as to acknowledge that the kid and princess were good-hearted and sturdy in spirit, showing promise of someday becoming worthy adults and in the meantime, proving themselves agreeable enough companions. Even the bun had her moments, but it would be a long road to walk to get to the point where Kurogane would admit that he missed them. The traitorous thoughts that kept wandering off in search of his three missing companions were brushed away like noisome insects, and he told himself that he was only concerned about reuniting with them all so that he could continue on this journey in the hopes that it would lead him home.

For now, however, he was stuck in this country, and did his best to pay attention to their guide as they continued their tour of the capital city.

There was plenty to keep himself occupied if he happened to tune out during a particularly long-winded speech, too. The tour of the great castle had been somewhat boring, what with Kurogane too used to finery from having grown up at the court of the Empress herself to be impressed by evidence of wealth, but he'd been keen after every detail that would help him map the place out in his head. Now as they walked through the town surrounding the castle he found himself distracted on a more personal level.

They walked by residential areas with little more than a passing mention of any prominent families that resided there, but Kurogane sometimes found things to capture his interest. He never slowed his steps nor even let his gaze linger, but the sight of a young boy running up to a woman with long black hair sometimes stayed with him even as he moved his gaze to other things. Bustling markets often lured him out of the straight line too, with the cheerful calls of vendors and bright colors.

And then there were the admirers.

Fai gathered them as he walked like candles drew moths on a dark night. His fair hair was a dead giveaway that he wasn't a local and everyone old enough to lace up their own tunics knew on sight that he was something special. Yasha-ou had touched on the subject lightly during their initial introduction but their guide was the one who explained the situation to Kurogane in more detail.

"We'd thought it possible that they'd all died out, you see, or forgotten us. It's been decades since the last one of his kind descended from the castle, and it's doubly exciting because he's the youngest we've ever had the privilege of receiving by far," the young man had explained earlier, apparently feeling that some sort of apology was necessary for the excessive commotion the mage had been causing. "The stories only tell of gods arriving in search of a quiet place to die. We've always held the area of the castle where they arrive even when there were more armies vying for territory above, so Yama has always claimed the honor of providing that last resting place. Sometimes it would be many years yet before they passed away but they were always old, always tired or lost or broken somehow."

Kurogane had stopped and stared at this, flummoxed by the idea that Fai was a _god_ here. God of lies, he could maybe see. The role of a mischievous fox spirit teasing honest men into traps was also fitting. But the citizens of Yama acted more like Fai's visit was a portent of a hundred years of peace and prosperity. Their guide had seemed to think that the ninja's surprise was more at the mention of age and endings, for he smiled sympathetically and explained further.

"Have you not seen it yourself yet?" the young man asked, gently curious. "Even the gods must die, and sometimes they honor us by involving us in their last days. It is a test, to see how we treat the mighty when they are about to fall into shadow. I must admit I'm as excited as anyone else to know why he is come so early yet in his life."

Kurogane had turned the man's hopeful hints aside by giving the same vague explanation that he'd given the king the day before; they were only here temporarily and would move on once they'd found their missing companions. This news certainly damped joy but did not extinguish it completely; the guide had and still exuded gratitude and excitement that Fai was here at all, be it only for a day or week or what.

Gossip traveled faster than they could on foot, especially once they ventured into the busier market streets. Soon enough there was a crowd gathered around them, with excited murmurs building up ahead and a trail behind them of people happily retelling their recent adventure to anyone who would listen. Their slow progress through the city was not due to the crowd directly, though. Everyone stayed a respectful distance away and made sure never to block the visitors' direct path forward. Rather it was that Fai seemed to understand the part he was to play, and kept slowing or stilling his measured steps to accept the attention he was being lavished with.

Gifts, too. At first they only gathered attention, but as word spread that a young god was come and was now touring the city, offerings were prepared and presented. Fai handed out gentle smiles and appreciative nods, keeping himself wrapped up in an aura of calm poise unlike his usual flippant friendliness, and then handed everything over to Kurogane to carry. The ninja had unthinkingly taken the first token without question or protest but had shot the mage a narrow-eyed look promising violence once he'd realized that he'd been assigned the role of pack mule. He'd been tempted to make it clear that the blond could and ought to carry the boxes and bottles himself but hadn't been quite sure what the repercussions might be of offering such insolence to a deity.

Getting stoned by an angry mob was not how he was going to farewell this life.

So far he had been accorded a fair bit of respect himself, merely because he appeared the chosen companion of this golden-haired otherworlder. It rankled not a little bit that his status depended on his connection to Fai and not his own merits, but he wasn't so stupid as to kick such a useful situation away out of nothing more than pride. He _was_ proud, but he was also smart. He could deal with this subordinate role for now if it helped them get through this part of their long journey more easily, and he placated himself by promising to take it out of the mage's hide later, when they were all together again and able to communicate.

He managed to juggle the bottles of wine and several little boxes without any trouble. He even added to his burdens unthinkingly. Kurogane spied a familiar title carved into a thin wooden box at a storyteller's stall and forgot himself so far as to let his interest show, and soon enough the latest set of Maganyan chapters was his with promises from the vendor to send future issues fresh from the copyists' hands as soon as the ink was dry. Kurogane gave his thanks, repressed any show of eagerness after the stories and resolutely kept his gaze away from Fai's face because he just knew that whatever expression it was wearing would only serve to irritate him.

When two rolls of fine cloth and a decorative scroll were added to the pile he put his foot down and protested with a glare and undervoiced growl that he wasn't here to serve as porter. Fai only smiled at him, little crinkles by his eyes making it a silent laugh under a concealing fringe of pale gold hair, but their guide helpfully suggested having the gifts delivered to their rooms. Couriers materialized out of the crowd to volunteer their services and soon Kurogane's arms were empty again, everything on their way to the castle save for a bouquet of wildflowers that a little girl had run up with.

This Fai had kept in his own hands after kneeling to receive it from a dimpled fist, a haphazard cluster of blue and yellow and mustard green looking fresh-picked from the roadside, and Kurogane snorted at him for choosing to carry the one gift that had hardly any weight to it.

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**Author's Notes:** A little call-back to Freckle Face of Celes. May she rest in peace. FYI, long ago Yama actually won the sky-castle and the then-king wished for peace for his embattled kingdom. He didn't include the sky-castle in his wish, however, so he had to commit his country to defending it for as long as that peace was to last. Other countries also have warp-fields like Yama and Shura do, but they have fallen or given up the sky-castle and turned the warp-fields into salted, barren wastelands to be shunned as cursed instead. Now only Shura gathers its army nightly to fight Yama for the sky-castle. There is a land of mages where the old warp-field is said to be a gateway to one of the next worlds; if one tires of this life but does not want to wait for death, they can go there to haste their way. They don't realize it's merely a warp-field to the sky-castle and most times when they do, they simply accept it for what it is and spend their last days in Yama, unburdened of their former lives and surrounded by caring, attentive strangers.


	4. Chapter 4

They slept through the worst heat of the day as did the rest of the country, hiding in the cool dark of their rooms like wolves curling up in their dens. The faint scent of the flowers Fai had received added something new to the air and somehow made it a little less strange, a little more theirs. A little girl with her hair in pigtails had given Kurogane flowers, too, and they were now rubbing shoulders with Fai's bouquet in the same stone vase on the table. He hadn't minded the flowers, though the sly and somehow knowing grin Fai had flashed him had chafed a bit.

Servants tapped at the wooden frame of the outer doors, announcing the arrival of the evening meal. They'd had the honor of an invitation to dine with the king himself or in the main hall if Fai preferred company, but Kurogane had taken the risk of offending and requested that they be allowed to take their meals in their rooms. The more they had to be in company, the more chances the mage had of making some slip and exposing himself. Yasha-ou had seemed to take no offense and had agreed easily to his new guest secluding himself, and promised that Fai would be allowed all the privacy he wished.

Hushed voices and little clinks and clatters sounded in the outer room, overlaid with the sound of a great iron bell striking the hour above the castle. Lamps were lit in all the corners as well, letting light bleed through the thin paper sections in a buttery glow and slide through the space Kurogane had left in the connecting doors, and he found Fai watching him expectantly in the dimness as the sounds of the servants receded back down the hallway.

He pantomimed eating, repeating the word for "meal" until Fai could pronounce it with some success and more importantly, pick it out when inserted into a sentence. It wasn't necessary that the mage should be able to speak, but it would certainly improve their situation if he could recognize certain words and understand more of what was going on around them without Kurogane having to put on a little play.

It gave him something to think over while methodically plowing through a meal; something to distract himself with while he tried not to pay too much attention to all the little things that spoke of home clashing with all the little things that screamed of a strange land.

At first glance the meal looked like something Tomoyo-hime would sit down to; a myriad of small plates and bowls harmoniously arranged on low trays, nothing in ungainly proportions and subtle little garnishes adding a touch of elegance even to a simple bowl of grain. Tea steamed in a glazed pot and Kurogane's eyes landed appreciatively on a high-sided wooden tray off to the side containing a bottle and two tiny cups nestled in chunks of ice.

Once he himself sat down on a large square cushion and got a closer look, however, he had to fight off a small twist in his stomach that had nothing to do with the meal being unappetizing in any way. It simply didn't look familiar anymore. The bowl of grain was pearly white but seemed to be some sort of barley, not rice. The soup looked right but the steam was not redolent with the rich scent of sea salt as he'd expected. The fish was cooked to a turn and seasoned well, but the firm flesh flaked neatly under his chopsticks into startlingly orange-hued chunks. The after-dinner drink, too, was not what he'd expected. Instead of a mild rice wine the bottle turned out to contain an amber alcohol with a sharp, smoky bite to it. Good, but strange. Enjoyable, but throwing in his face that he was mind-bogglingly far from home.

Almost being thrown into prison after dinner was also a cold dash of reality.

An unending stream of visitors flowed through their suite after the remains of their meal had been cleared away, everyone bowing and paying their respects and bearing something in their hands. Bowls of hot water to cleanse their hands, a choice of clothes to wear to battle, even a map delivered by Captain Inoue himself showing the territory that Yama held at the sky-castle. Everything went along quite well enough until they were escorted to a great hall where waited the armor master. Though Kurogane and Fai were only accompanying Yasha-ou as observers, still they would be in the thick of battle and needed to dress accordingly.

Fai was attended to first as befitted his status. After smilingly shaking his head at the elaborately decorated and heavy pieces that were initially shown to him, the mage picked out some lightweight pieces of leather armor from what looked to be the stockpile for common soldiers; a single spaulder and a simple round piece fastening about the waist to protect the gut. Both were deeply scored with etched lines that crossed and re-crossed over and over, cutting the leather into neat squares. It was all dyed a blue so deep that it recalled the last faint echoes of color that remained in the sky before evening surrendered to the black of night, and as the armor master explained, was the standard uniform of all who served Yasha-ou.

Kurogane refused to wear it.

The argument began politely enough, at least on the armor master's side. With a preface of many humble apologies, the man insisted that though Kurogane was an honored guest, no man was allowed to join in the battle at the sky-castle, much less ride at the king's side, without at least some token sign of allegiance to Yama. Kurogane repeated his refusal in much less polite fashion and picked out for himself a plain, unadorned and undyed leather skirt to protect his legs without much hindering them. There was not much more than that to choose from but he hardly wished it otherwise, trusting more to speed and instinct to keep himself safe. He declared himself ready and then the armor master got downright huffy, and Fai disappeared.

The mage's sudden descent into watchful stillness had been ignored, but Kurogane scowled at the back of him as Fai slipped out of the hall. He wasn't gone for long, but even so by the time he returned the situation had deteriorated to the point where the ninja was fending off armed guards with little more than a fierce glare and lingering doubt in the guards' minds about how angry the visiting deity might become if his chosen companion were to be treated as a potential spy or assassin. It showed in the way their belligerence wilted nearly entirely away at Fai's return, and Kurogane turned to give the mage a withering look for sneaking off when things got tense.

The look lost a bit of its ire and turned quizzical instead as he eyed the voluminous folds of cloth the mage had draped over one arm. A second look showed him that the fabric was one of the gifts from the morning's tour; all in plain black but finely woven so that it was sturdy and thick yet flowed like water. Expressive eyes - and it was still strange to see them glittering so darkly in that pale face - were fixed on him already, and giving him such a look that it froze him to the spot. Not from any fear or submission to that imperious gaze, of course, but because he knew that Fai would never actually look at him so. The mage was putting on a play again, so Kurogane kept quiet for now and watched for cues that he ought to step in.

Dark eyebrows quirked high as the blond strode over and grabbed the hilt of Kurogane's sword, drawing Souhi out in one swift, smooth pull. The blade came singing out of the sheath and spat fragments of lamplight about the room as Fai gave the sword a quick twist, then went sliding through the black fabric in a great slithering rush. Kurogane kept Souhi clean and well sharpened, and Fai did not rip and tear through the cloth so much as he poured it over the blade and let gravity do most of the work. Soon enough there were two pieces on the floor, and then the mage reversed the blade over one forearm to return it to its rightful owner.

A long slender ribbon that had been sheared away from the main piece was plucked up first and Fai flung it casually about his shoulders, the trailing ends fluttering as he swooped down toward the floor again. The rest of the fabric was grabbed up in two great fistfuls with a soft grunt at the apparent weight of it all, and then Fai stepped around to look thoughtfully up at Kurogane. With his back to the armor master and fidgeting guards, the mage let his expression soften into something more natural, and he gave the ninja a sort of helpless little smile and questioning quirk of his eyebrows while hefting the weighty cloth. A little flick of a finger added clarification, and Kurogane huffed and crouched down so that Fai could more easily get the fabric - apparently a makeshift cloak - around his broad shoulders.

It wasn't actually at all heavy once it was settled around him and he frowned to see that winsome little smile turn into a smirk. And when Fai pulled a pale gold cord the exact shade of his own hair out of a pocket and used it to fix and fasten the cloak about the ninja's neck, it hit Kurogane that he hadn't been working in tandem with the blond to pull the wool over Yasha's men in some unexplained ploy of the mage's; Fai had neatly conned them all.

Here he was, a proud ninja sworn mind and body to the imperial princess of Nihon and to her alone, defying even the king of the country he was currently guest in...kneeling on the floor before this sunny-faced fool and letting him mark him with his colors. _Mine_, that gesture said. _Mine, not Yasha's. __Mine__ and I'll not let anyone else claim him._ That smirk he was glaring up at turned positively gloating for a split second and then fell away entirely as Fai looked back over one shoulder to flick a cold, disapproving glance across the line of men now backed up against a rack of chestplates. The armor master, completely deflated now, actually flinched as if that look had been a knife before bowing deeply enough to hide his face. The guards followed suit.

Seeming appeased by this show of fearful respect, Fai swept grandly out of the hall. Kurogane followed two steps behind and made sure to shut the doors firmly behind them before taking a swing at the once-again grinning mage with his sword.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **And a little call-back to Pigtails of Nihon, too. XD After bringing up the bouquet of flowers that little Fai had received, I had to highlight Kuro-tan's own parallel storyline as well. I had fun with the idea that there was a very good reason that Kurogane is the only soldier shown fighting for Yama who is not wearing cross-hatched armor. I also like to think that here, Fai is absolutely glorying in his "vacation" from Reed's plotting and actually claiming Kurogane as his man, rather than having to constantly remind himself that he is the Warlock's pawn, and Kurogane belongs to the Witch's side.


	5. Chapter 5

Travel to the sky-castle was much the same as the return trip, but in reverse. The army massed in a great clearing a short distance from the outer walls of Yasha-ou's castle, traveling down a well-worn path carved through a thick stand of trees that reminded Kurogane of black pines. They had been given mounts, more of those flop-eared lizard-like beasts which seemed to be the horse of this world, and Fai rode in the place of honor at the king's left. Kurogane rode at the mage's side and stubbornly kept his animal nose-to-nose with the other man's instead of staying back a few paces as was probably expected of him, judging from the curious or perhaps disapproving glances the men around them kept shooting his way.

He was reluctantly wearing the cloak that matched Fai's little nothing of a scarf but now also sported a red headband marked with a waning moon in black ink. The crescent opened to the left as had the mark of his own Empress, and while others of Yasha's army also wore similar headbands theirs were black instead. It had seemed to mollify those of Yasha's personal guard somewhat, that he would at least wear the crescent moon though not the standard armor. Fai had presented this bit of cloth to him as well, but privately and with an apologetic sort of smile. Kurogane, pleased despite himself how perfectly it matched the headgear he'd left behind in the last world, had accepted it as a peace offering. It reminded him of home and his true allegiance well enough to make him better able to bear the perception in others that he belonged to Yasha and Fai.

They mustered at sunset, the sky above the treeline ablaze as if the heat of the day had set the forest afire. The foot soldiers made up the bulk of the army, all in neat rows facing away from the setting sun. Mounted officers were scattered throughout the ranks and the king and his guests placed themselves in the rear. Behind them came the wagons, which Kurogane was at first surprised to see trundling up. An army did not need extensive supply trains to keep the troops fed, watered and armed when a battle could only last hours, not days or weeks.

Fai was giving the wagons a curious look as well, twisting in his saddle to look this way and that, and it prompted an explanation from the king.

"Spirits and priests in some, water and physicians in the remainder," Yasha explained simply. "We hold the sky-castle every night, but there are always those who cannot wait for the moon to rise, either for care or a last comfort." Fai let his gaze drift slowly down the row of wagons once more as if considering this information, but his eyes cut over to Kurogane to check for a reaction. The ninja looked to the wagons again himself and nodded once, slow and thoughtful, and the mage turned back to the king as if his perusal was done and mimicked the gesture.

They stayed quiet and contemplative after that, all of them, from the king down on to the archers at the front of the lines. Those of Yama, probably out of respect for the coming battle and all its trials and losses. Kurogane stayed still partly also from a desire to avoid any further chance of exposing Fai's inability to understand anything being said, and the mage perhaps operating under much the same motivation. They ignored the magnificent sunset and instead kept their eyes fixed on the darkening horizon, at the shadow rising from the silhouette of the trees like a mist. Twilight deepened as did the silence among the men, and then suddenly the world blurred and exploded into noise.

Having only permission to observe in the hopes of spotting the children they were on the watch for, Kurogane at first set himself to familiarizing himself with the territory, overlaying what his eyes saw with the map that he'd memorized. He could see the rapidly blurring line where Yasha's army met Ashura's, but the opposing king was too far away for any real observations. Or for drawing any conclusions from Fai's reaction, for that matter.

He brought his gaze back in closer, marking the spot where he himself had landed after some searching, hoping that the bun could perhaps draw them together again after having scattered them in the first place. Getting a feel for the terrain did not take long after that, and then there was nothing to do but watch and wait.

He could lie in wait of prey for hours if need be but it bothered him to simply sit by and watch a battle rage on. It bothered him, then it began to irritate him, and then it started to really rankle. His right hand tapped against the saddle, itching to unsheath Souhi and get to work, and his eyes darted to and fro, watching first this cluster of men and then another. Not all of Yama's army fought here, the transport grounds not large enough to hold them all in fact, and Inoue had explained earlier that Yasha-ou did not even bring with him all that he could crowd into the clearing. He took only just enough of his seasoned and best to guarantee that they could defend the sky-castle successfully.

Inexperienced soldiers were not allowed, lest an unproven warrior break under strain and become a liability, nor were the wounded or weak, ill or recovering. Being allowed to accompany the king to night battle was an honor, and it only added to Kurogane's discontent that he wasn't doing anything to earn it. They'd traveled under specious pretense before and he'd been fine with the deceptions that allowed them to make their way in a new world peacefully, but once established they'd _worked_, even if they hadn't earned a wage. Investigating, searching, finding fights and fighting them. They - or at least Kurogane and the kid - hadn't ever taken an opportunity to just sit and watch the world go by.

This was stupid.

He scanned the battlefield, picked out a cluster of men in Yasha's black and blue who looked to be hard-pressed and then spoke aloud, keeping his eye on the battle and mentioning it casually as if simply making conversation.

"Those'll be surrounded soon," he said, nodding over to the soldiers trapped in a sort of hollow with more and more soldiers in flame-decorated garb swarming near. He looked over then, and found Yasha gazing not at him, but at Fai. The mage's head was turned away from Kurogane so that he could not see his expression, but soon enough turned back toward him with an amused, indulgent sort of smile quirking his lips. A little jerk of that fair head of hair toward the soldiers Kurogane had mentioned was given as soon as they locked eyes.

_Go on._

He was happy enough to be off-leash, so to speak, to return a quick, savage grin before kicking his mount forward, switching the reins to his left hand so that he could bring Souhi shimmering out of its scabbard. A quick ride down the low hill that they had been observing the fighting from and then it was all the rush of battle for a time. He forgot Fai, watching him from the hilltop. Forgot the kids and the bun, wherever they were. Forgot even home for a time, forgot vengeance and loss and rage. Tomoyo-hime was still in his thoughts, but only far in the back of his mind where he reminded himself to only cripple, not kill, lest he lose any of the strength that was so needful to him.

All else faded to nothing. It was only the enemy in front of him and any coming within range. His world was the ground he stood upon, his family the men in dark clothes like his own. It was everything coming into sharp, small focus; no problems too large for him to do aught about, no opponent too far away for him to grapple with. It was chaos within his control, and he reveled in it.

He was only reminded of other things when he flinched away from the sharp whine of arrows coming in toward him, only to frown in confusion when the four men that had been rushing in on him suddenly fell, one after another, screaming in pain as they clutched at the feathered shafts suddenly sprouting from their thighs. A quick scan of his surroundings showed him bereft of men to fight for at least forty seconds and he whirled around to where the arrows had come from, a snarl that he didn't need help ready on his lips because he knew already who was responsible even if he wasn't to be found holding a bow.

Except he was. A longbow made of some pale wood now split the air in front of the mage like a small sliver of the moon that lit the battlefield. Fai was still smiling and now shaking his head slowly as well.

_What_, Kurogane mouthed belligerently, letting his frown and a contemptuous flick of his hand speak more clearly what the mage wouldn't have been able to understand even if they'd been within comfortable speaking distance. That pale visage turned sharply away, hidden now behind a curtain of gold, and one hand shot out to snap impatient fingers at a nearby soldier. The reaction of the men nearby was almost comical. Two men practically stumbled over themselves and each other in their rush to hand the blond fresh arrows, awkwardly attempting to put the ammunition within easy grabbing range while also kneeling respectfully. A third spilled a quiver of arrows and looked around him as if fearing divine punishment for his clumsiness.

Fai snatched a single arrow up, nocked it, drew it back and let fly with such speed that Kurogane lost a full second in surprise and admiration, only turning to see what Fai had been shooting at in enough time to watch a mounted enemy soldier complete his fall from the saddle. The beast had been headed straight for the ninja but slowed its steps as it lost its rider and began turning aside. The four men that had been hobbled earlier were some distance away already, supporting and defending each other in a little knot as they limped their way back to their own lines.

"I'm _fine_!" Kurogane shouted irritably back at the mage, unable to stay silent at this unwanted assistance. He had more blood on his hands than the sky-castle had on its dirt; he needed a babysitter no more than he needed a swaddling cloth to sleep at night. "Keep out of it!"

Fai kept his gaze on the ninja, not reacting at all except to reach out to the side to grasp the handle of a quiver being held up by a guardsman. The cylinder was hauled onto one shoulder and one arrow brought out to rest at the ready in his hands. Kurogane growled something impolite and perhaps a little ungrateful under his breath and turned his back on the mage, focusing on the battle again and making sure to keep enough of advantage in terrain and support and numbers that further interference would be obviously unnecessary.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I continue to fluff out this story with my analysis of Kurogane's wardrobe. *snort*


	6. Chapter 6

Hot baths and chilled wine waiting for them restored and even improved Kurogane's mood, bringing him down from the high of battle and then helping to wash away the after-tremors of receding adrenaline. By the time the servants withdrew for the night, taking with them the wooden bucket clinking and sloshing with half-melted ice and empty bottles and cups, the ninja's shoulders were down and his brow smoothed out from the frown that had marred it most of the night. He could even grant the mage's watchful assistance the gratitude it deserved, though he hadn't been able to communicate it in much more than some extra thoughtfulness in his manner. Fai had seemed to take it as it was meant, however, returning thoughtful looks and quick smiles that were unlike his usual cheerful masks whenever Kurogane handed him something just out of his reach or refilled the mage's cup before it was quite empty.

It was time to sleep again, this time for a bit longer than the noon rest period, but Kurogane moved to the inner room only to bring out the paper and brushes. He brought with him a small covered dish of clay containing various baked crackers that had been added to the room during the afternoon, picking them on impulse as a better substitute for markers than wadded up strips of paper. To get them started, he laid out a handful of creamy white button-like crackers on one side of a paper and then picked out a similar number of black sesame buttons.

"Shura, Yama," he noted, gesturing to the crispy little armies. Fai nodded and improved on the scene by adding larger crackers and designating them the king of each army. Kurogane watched him narrowly but that serene face gave nothing away even when Ashura-ou was named. Fai then pored over the clay container thoughtfully before picking out two more items; a seaweed-wrapped square and a similarly shaped cracker baked golden brown. He made an unfamiliar noise while pointing at the toasted cracker which Kurogane assumed was Celesian for "me" and then the ninja quirked an eyebrow when the black square was named "Kuro-seir".

It was not a mangling of his name he recognized. It did not even sound like the ones he was familiar with, and he realized that even his nicknames had been washed through the bun's translation ability all this time. Whatever silly baby noises Fai had been making in Celesian had reached Kurogane's ears as "wan wan" and "tan", "pipi" and "pii". Now he was Kuro-seir.

Putting that little realization aside for now, Kurogane set to work in drilling Fai on whatever words he could think of that might help the man in battle. They determined which side of the crackers were front, Fai adding eyes to his own cracker with careful little dabs of a brush and to Kurogane's by scraping away bits of seaweed to show the cracker underneath, and then Kurogane and Fai began moving their snacks through a series of maneuvers.

Enemy and ally. Army, battalion, company, platoon, and squad. King, captain, lancer, archer, swordsman, healer, and priest. Kurogane called the flat crackers that the captain-crackers rode on "horses" for lack of a better word. Front and behind, left and right. Move forward, retreat back, and swing around. Fight and hide. Stay together and run.

Kurogane was no teacher, but Fai was quick to learn and surprisingly engaged enough to more than make up for any lack of finesse or patience on his tutor's part. Contrary to the ninja's expectations, Fai wasted hardly any time in teasing or playing about, and perhaps because of it, Kurogane himself put greater effort into explaining things patiently than he otherwise might have. In the end, the hardest part of each lesson was not in getting concepts across or in memorizing any particular phrase, but in Kurogane's attempts to pronounce the Celesian equivalent of each phrase he taught to the mage.

He'd thought it over during their washing up and decided that it was no less crucial that he learn some Celesian than it was that Fai should be able to understand the basics of what was going on around them. They wouldn't always be able to wait for time alone for Kurogane to be able to mime out some crucial information, and some things might need more than just a look or simple gesture to communicate. If he could speak to the mage without anyone else understanding that he was prompting the mage or some other such thing, it would be useful indeed.

It took some work to even get across to the mage that he wanted to learn the other man's language, not just teach him the one spoken here that so closely matched the ninja's native language. He ended up having to use the nicknames that he so often raged against, saying first "Kuro-sama" while pointing to himself and then "Kuro-seir" while gesturing to the mage, then moving on to his word for "king" and then looked expectantly to the mage. After the pattern was established of communicating concept and then exchanging words, first in Nihongo and then Celesian, things went fairly smoothly, with no other tangles beyond the occasional pause to try and twist Kurogane's tongue into knots.

They both took copious notes, and after they'd managed to exchange all the words and phrases that Kurogane felt would prove most important at the sky-castle he led them through a quick review. He went first, to show the mage what was next on the curriculum. Putting his pages of notes face-down, he began listing off words in Celesian, pointing at or pushing around crackers to illustrate what each word meant. He got most of it right on the first run-through, except for the differing army formations and needing further coaching on pronunciation.

Fai did even better, getting all of the words correct and only being awkward in his speech, putting stresses in strange places and melting some of the syllables together. He was still understandable, however, so Kurogane deemed it good enough and did not bother being overly fussy about the man's accent.

"Good," he said shortly, and then began sweeping up the crackers after quickly miming going to sleep. He didn't bother making "sleep" another language exchange item; they'd made good progress already and things like "eat" and "bathe" could wait for another time. A pale hand shot out and rescued some of the baked goods from him, however, making him stop and frown lightly in confusion. Fai's other hand was lifted up with just one finger raised, either asking for one more lesson or one more minute, or perhaps just asking him to wait.

Kurogane watched as three of the white button crackers that represented Shura's soldiers were lined up. Fai then took a sesame cracker and made a show of bumping it against each of the white buttons, one by one. He then took a tiny fragment out of the middle button with a fingernail, and then crushed the third button utterly by grinding it down with his thumb. The first button remained unscathed.

"What," Fai prompted, grabbing the sesame cracker again and making a show of it rushing but not hitting the first round cracker.

"Miss," Kurogane said. He then pointed at the white cracker and added, "unharmed."

The sesame cracker made contact with the chipped cracker.

"Hit. Injured."

The sesame cracker jumped up and down a few times, further pulverizing the third button cracker.

"Kill. Dead."

Fai murmured over each word and then painstakingly dusted off his hands, looking thoughtfully at the table and then at the ninja as if thinking something over. The air in the room was expectant somehow, and Kurogane stayed still, waiting.

"Kuro-eliour no kill?" Fai asked finally, folding himself into a childish sitting pose and tipping his head to smile winningly at the ninja as if he were only asking if they could have more to drink. But his dark eyes were intent upon the ninja's face, too serious and seeking above that carefully casual smile, and Kurogane frowned.

It was in point of fact a perfectly valid and natural question. Kurogane had fought many that night and been victorious every time, but it had been obvious - especially to one such as Fai who had seen him fight before - that his focus had been mostly on disarming and routing, crippling and maiming. Every enemy he'd put down had gotten back up and limped or crawled away, or sometimes been carried away but at least had still been breathing. He'd had opportunities aplenty to end a fight permanently, and had never taken them.

He didn't have the words yet to explain to Fai about the curse laid upon him and to be honest, would not have made use of them even if he had. He didn't think of the mage as an enemy, but a weakness was still a weakness and not something he would willingly share with anyone except the handful of people that he truly esteemed and trusted through and through, and they were all in Nihon. He was getting a sense of the man behind the mask of smiles and did indeed trust him to some extent, but not enough to reveal secrets such as this.

And so he merely shook his head and replied, "No. I don't kill."

"Yes kill..._bwooaaargh_," replied the mage, earning a strange look as he raised his hands and made clawing gestures to accompany his odd vocalization. "Outo," Fai added for clarification, when the ninja only stared at him like he'd lost what little he'd had of mind in the first place. "Kuro-grou yes kill Outo."

"I kill demons," Kurogane agreed, mimicking the claw gesture a bit to explain the new word, though leaving out the weird cries that apparently were meant to be spooky. "I don't kill people." Well, he didn't kill people _right now_, at least, thanks to the curse that his too-clever brat of a princess had seen fit to lay upon him. He'd killed more men than he could count before and was fairly certain there was a good amount of killing yet to be done in his life, but for now, he was on restriction.

And all this was nothing he felt like explaining to Fai, so when the mage looked as if he would keep pressing, Kurogane quickly swept up the remaining crackers and shook his head.

"We're done for tonight. It's time to sleep," he said firmly, repeating the pertinent verb and miming laying his head down again for emphasis, and turned his back on any further attempts to engage him in conversation. The table was cleared and preparations for bed made all in silence, Kurogane's stolid and Fai's thoughtful again. The mage wriggled into his bedding first and Kurogane scoffed at the lazy-bones as he went to extinguish the last lamp.

Once the room was plunged into darkness he made his way quietly across the room to his own blankets, relying on simple memory rather than his unseeing sight. Just as his feet transitioned from smooth matting to padded fabric Fai suddenly spoke, soft and subdued, a long string of Celesian that almost seemed like a single word with how the syllables rushed together one after the other. He waited, but all that met his ears was night noises after that; quiet breaths and the rustle of blankets shifting against each other.

Kurogane pondered it over a while after laying himself down, poring over the thing as an item of no account but that it was something to do while he waited for sleep to overtake him. He could make nothing of it, however, and finally drifted off with no more than the conviction that the sentence had begun with "you" and ended with "me".

* * *

**Author's Note:** What Fai said in the end was a mention of Kurogane's policy on not killing people and the conflict it presented with Fai's own mission, which includes an order to kill Kurogane if the ninja gets in the way of Reed's schemes. Feel free to make something suitable up, as I don't have it scripted out in my head. XD


	7. Chapter 7

One hundred days was nothing in comparison of other stretches of time in his life. It was barely enough time to watch a season turn. It had taken that many days at least for him to fully recover from the bad fit of marsh fever he'd contracted while still a child. Two years and more had gone by while he proved himself worthy of entering the ninja corps. He'd spent most of his life mastering the sword skills that had saved his life and the lives of his companions - those now and before - many a time.

One hundred days was nothing, and yet his days and nights felt so different now that it was as if thrice that length of time at least had passed since they'd fallen out of the sky over Yama.

They'd never stayed all that long in a world before this, sometimes only stopping mere hours before moving on, and so he'd hardly had time to accustom himself to each new place before they were being swept away by the little white dumpling again. He'd acclimated, certainly, adjusted and adapted as had been necessary, but hadn't gotten comfortable. The fact that Yama was so close an approximation to his home helped a great deal, certainly, but most of it was the simple fact that they'd had plenty of time to come to know the place.

One hundred days gone and they were so firmly established in the daily life of the castle, army and surrounding capital city that it was as if they'd always been there. Fai's fame had a good deal to do with this. Much to their relief, they'd found that there was no need for the mage to put on any show of supernatural powers to prove his supposed godhood. The manner of their arrival and Fai's fair looks seemed proof enough, and no one ever challenged their claims.

To Kurogane's mind, the status the mage was accorded seemed in keeping with the respect and interest an ancient spirit or minor god might engender in Nihon. Fai might actually qualify as such in fact, given his magical abilities, though he refused to make good use of his power. He even shared qualities with some popular spirits, being by turns playful, mischievous, generous or helpful.

They were given gifts, but they were gifts only, not sacrifices in exchange for petitions to do great works such as bring rain or halt a plague. People approached the supposed deity with lively curiosity rather than fear, respected or perhaps even humored any whims he had, and whatever oddities they might notice about the blond seemed to be shrugged off as something to do with the way of the spirit realm and not something for mere mortals to trouble themselves in understanding. Fai had so far managed to maintain perfectly the lie that he understood the language and simply could not or chose not to speak, but had he suddenly exposed the truth of himself it was likely that they could have passed it off as some strange test or joke.

Fai was in fact slowly gaining fluency but Kurogane still wouldn't have trusted him to speak even if he'd needed to. Their language exchanges had continued every night with few interruptions - three of those the days that new stories were delivered to Kurogane - and by now they could hold halting conversations in each other's language, though they very likely sounded like a couple of two year olds. Fai's accent and sentence structuring were terrible, and judging by the puzzled looks and bursts of laughter they caused, Kurogane's were downright atrocious.

Another little way in which their life was good but peppered with some small problem was that their daily needs were attended to without their needing to lift a single finger. Eventually Kurogane's pride was soothed by the fact that they were allowed to join the army and contribute something to the country. The king had insisted smilingly but firmly on paying them a proper wage for it, as if they were not already being recompensed richly in food and drink and living arrangements. The ninja had tried to talk Fai into throwing a bit of his god-weight around on the matter but surprisingly Fai had talked him into accepting the pay graciously instead. The mage had explained with disjointed phrases and the aid of some little figurines they'd fashioned out of acorns - the crackers tended to crumble and get sticky - that the money might come in handy in another world.

They were paid in coins of various shapes and sizes and as the money had piled up Kurogane had ventured out and exchanged the smaller coins for better, and then later some of the better coins for lumps of ore and precious stones, keeping their wealth compact and also varied in case one thing or the other had no value in other worlds. They spent a little of it here and there, too, and learned how to politely insist on paying for their purchases instead of letting shopkeepers gift them everything. They couldn't turn away the spontaneous gifts without giving offense or at the very least hurting some feelings, but the items that they sought out on their own they made sure to pay for.

The nightly battles at the castle above were become a part of their routine as well, with its own rhythm that they'd come to know as well as their own heartbeats. Arming themselves, Fai always giving some little tweak or tug to the cloak around the ninja's shoulders with a sly grin, the steady ride to the clearing, faring well to the sun's light and waiting for that wavering shift in the air that signaled the start of battle. And then the roar and clash that was the signal to kick their mounts forward and join the fray.

Kurogane had wondered in early days if the enemy king would provoke any kind of telling reaction from the mage, even if Fai continued to refuse to communicate anything directly. Perhaps it would even lead to some sort of conclusive battle. But once they'd gotten near enough to catch sight of Ashura-ou he'd been disappointed, and Fai seemingly relieved. This Ashura, then, was not the person that Fai kept looking over his shoulder for. Or at least, was not the correct version.

Finding out that their enemy was not truly their enemy, merely a country that the country they were guests in was at war with, caused a slight shift in Kurogane's thinking, almost without his realizing it. He had no personal stake in this war, nor did the mage, and the result was that they joined the army and yet kept themselves separate from within it. They were a part of Yama, but not citizens. A part of the fight, but not army. They were only a team of two, and it worked better that way than Kurogane could have predicted.

They had early on gained the admiration, then respect of their fellow soldiers and could and often did work well within a squad or platoon, but the ninja felt more freedom in focusing on fighting, not protecting fellow soldiers of varying skill and sense scattered every which way around him. Fai by his side was a different story; the mage knew to stick close, communicated with a jerk of the head or a simple hand gesture before peeling away, and was more than competent at protecting himself. He never signaled for assistance, but then again he hardly ever needed it and Kurogane had so far always been quick and close enough to provide support.

The ninja by himself was a force to be reckoned with, cutting bloody swaths through white and red uniformed ranks. Fai, with a quickness and accuracy at his bow that even Kurogane had never seen the equal of, more than earned the honor he'd been granted immediately upon arrival. Together, side by side and back to back, they were unstoppable.

And it wasn't just the two of them fighting together; it was Kurogane allowing it, welcoming it, and that was another proof of how much time had passed since they'd first arrived in Yama. Time measured not in hours gone by, but in trust gained and guards lowered. Falling asleep at night to the sound of the other's breathing and waking up to see them utterly loose and relaxed or clumsily rising out of sleep. Taking every meal together, almost always privately in their rooms even now because of Fai's clumsiness at his chopsticks no matter how often Kurogane attempted to teach him. Falling into little intimacies simply because they were thrown together so, no matter what hesitations or doubts they might have come into the room with.

They'd settled into the habit of sitting side by side for their meals instead of facing off across the table as was traditional for a meal for two. Every sixth day especially, when the kitchen served an elegant meal of raw fish, preserved shellfish, fresh vegetables and cold fruit jellies, they pushed their plates together so that vegetables and seafood could be traded away. Sometimes dessert was a trio of hot, crunchy black sesame puffs filled with sweet bean paste that Kurogane actually liked, but he found himself leaving one - two lately - on his plate, enjoying the sight of Fai savoring them with appreciative hums.

Sometimes they turned out into the streets for their morning meal, meeting up with whoever of their fellow soldiers were not on duty or occupied in drills, and grazing their way through the little stands and wagons of the street vendors. Fai handed out countless sticks of roasted meat and fragrant rice dumplings as well as piping hot potatoes in greasy paper, purchasing food with coins and popularity with his generosity and smiles. After their stomachs were filled they staved off the oncoming heat of midday with chilled wine and fruit ices until it was time to sleep. With the advantage of having fought alongside them as brothers in battle, the men of Yama's army tended to treat the two of them more as equals, both Kurogane as equal to Fai and Fai himself as equal to a mere mortal. From fellow soldiers to good comrades was a very short step, easily bridged by Fai dropping his deity act and acting more like his usual self.

All in all, Yama was not the worst place to have to cool their heels while waiting for the bun and brats to join up with them again, or for word from Yasha's outriders to come that the young people been found somewhere outside the kingdom. Everything they needed for daily living came easily to them, but they still had to fight for their lives. There were enemies to face off against but also allies to rely upon. It was like Outo and yet far better, not just because Yama reminded him more of Nihon, but because he and the mage were working better together than they had before. Much of it was due to Fai, and the rest to Kurogane being able to appreciate it.

Kurogane did not credit himself with having had any life-changing impact on the blond with one short speech, but it was undeniable that Fai was much more forward facing in this world than he had been in the virtual reality of Outo. He sat down to each language lesson with much more attention and engagement than Kurogane had ever hoped to see, only occasionally detouring into silliness. He perfected and protected his god facade with dedication, never making their place precarious through carelessness. Most arrestingly, at least to Kurogane, the mage never made the same mistake he had in Outo, of being careless with his own life. He fought, and fought well, with the focus and will of one determined to live to see the next dawn.

And Kurogane, for his part, could admit to himself now that not only was this world not the worst one to be stuck in, but that the mage was not the worst person to be stuck with. He'd always suspected that there was a great deal more to the man than what met the eye, but now he could tip the balance of his suppositions in favor of good rather than evil. Unpleasant incidents very likely tainted Fai's past, memories ripe with the hot tang of blood and sweat or bringing with them a surge of bitter regret and self-castigation perhaps, but now Kurogane tended to lay them to the account of mischance or politics, ill luck or deliberate evil. He laid the blame at the feet of others and gave the mage the benefit of the doubt.

Fai had changed, and with him, Kurogane's opinion. The blond was no longer just that irritating, empty-headed lazy-bones whose every speech and mannerism reeked of deception and who held his own life cheap. Now he was the man who sometimes went to bed with ink still staining his calloused fingers after taking extensive notes on how exactly to pronounce the name of a certain animal. Now he was the comrade whom Kurogane trusted above all to watch his back in battle. Now he was the one who, week after week, progressed through various wishes haltingly communicated that the missing children and bun should meet up with them soon, be safe and sound, be well and well-fed, not be fretting in worry over the adults they were separated from, and be having fun wherever they were and whatever they were engaged in doing.

Now he was the man who was beginning to smile new smiles, carving out new places in the catalogue that Kurogane had been building of what certain expressions meant. Training, survival instincts and simple suspicion had prompted the ninja almost from the very beginning to keep a close eye on the mage, to try and understand him better. He'd spent time interpreting certain smiles as more than what they'd seemed and now had an ever-increasing store of memories of smiles that were exactly what they appeared to be.

Perhaps it was because they'd begun without much ability to communicate, but Fai offered Kurogane more simple honesty in his body language and expressions in Yama, whether he knew it or not. When attempting to exchange a phrase that couldn't be easily conveyed, such as the differences between "can't", "won't" and "don't want to", they'd had to throw all their efforts into detailed pantomime in addition to drawings or acorn maneuvers before they could begin to guess what phrase in Nihongo or Celesian was needed. Exaggerated expressions and play-acting left little room for subterfuge, and the need to drop his air-headed act so that he could throw himself into acting out surprise or horror or hesitation naturally led to Fai forgetting to pick the act back up after their language lesson was over.

They were gaining fluency in each other's native language, and the ninja was gaining understanding of the mage, but there were still things Kurogane didn't know how to communicate. Or rather, he knew enough to probably cobble together a good enough approximation of a phrase, though the words might not be perfect and his grammar possibly bad enough to merit laughter. But he didn't know how to say, "you're different now; you've changed for the better" without sounding stupid and silly and weak, so he never attempted it.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** And here I attempt to explain how two men managed to earn enough in the army in less than six months to pay for a place to live, entry fees into a race, and four hovercraft in Piffle. Just their salary couldn't have done all that, so I added in ore and minerals that might have been affordable in Yama but near-priceless in Piffle for their rarity or uniqueness. The more I think about it, the more I realize that CLAMP really handwaved a lot. LOL

...and as I typed this I just realized something. Mokona swept everyone away directly from Shura, didn't she? (Also why did Kurogane and Fai warp to Shura instead of returning to Yama?) Kurogane and Fai didn't have time to pack bags and I doubt they would have been carrying around their entire net wealth all the time, and yet in Piffle Sakura mentions Kurogane and Fai handing over their pay from the army in order to pay for the dragonfly racers. Did Mokona somehow know what luggage in Yama belonged to Kurogane and Fai and remotely sucked it up while taking everyone to Shara? *gets headache*


	8. Chapter 8

It was five months gone since they'd dropped into the middle of Yama's territory at the sky-castle, and Kurogane and Fai were so well immersed in that country's way of life that they began to distance themselves from it. In early days, their concern had been to secure their place so that they could wait for the children without too much trouble. Now, they were comfortable enough that they began to take back some of the little freedoms they'd sacrificed at first.

Instead of confining themselves to their room for all their meals or using that time to establish firmer friendships with the soldiers, they now spent a goodly portion of the morning exploring the forest that surrounded much of the capital. They both of them needed little sleep, Kurogane through long years of training himself to it and Fai because of the gods-only-knew-what. They rose early and made short work of the morning washing-up, dipping small cloths into shallow tubs of steaming water and wiping away the sweat of night, even taking turns scrubbing each other's backs. The hot water and chill of cool air against damp skin woke them well up, and after quickly shrugging their clothes on they turned out into the city.

When solitude was their motive, they stayed off the market streets busy with colorful banners and friendly vendors all wanting them to come over and honor them with their custom or a moment of chat. Instead they took a slightly circuitous route through housing districts, winding their way down alleys and quiet back streets until they came up to the tree-lined path that fed into the clearing where the army massed each evening.

On the other side of the clearing, the forest stretched on for miles, noisy with everything but man as it was crown land and not to be hunted in or cut down for wood without the king's allowing it. Fai, of course, was allowed to roam about as he wished, and in fact they did not even bother asking for permission. It never became a problem, because they were never caught.

Kurogane was a ninja, and Fai naturally light on his feet and able to be quiet when he wanted to be. The sun-dappled forest even allowed the mage to blend in despite his shock of light hair that made him stand out everywhere else, while the ninja was like his shadow. They roamed this way and that, Kurogane mapping more of the place out for his own satisfaction and Fai content to let his companion direct their path.

It was a lush, ancient forest of tall conifers growing in the spaces between mossy boulders and great slabs of dark grey stone. In the early morning the air was cool and sap-spicy, the rocks nosing up out of the thick carpet of pine needles glistening with dew and snail tracks. Faint twitters and cheeps sounded high above while at their feet, countless streams and rivulets spattered and sang as they wound their way between the tree trunks.

It was much warmer now, their arrival having apparently been accomplished in full spring. A series of freshwater pools chained together with little waterfalls became their favorite haunt, or at least Fai's. Now and again when the midday heat reached even the interior of the great castle and made sleep difficult for the mage, they skipped their nap and spent the hottest part of the day dabbling in the water instead. Kurogane contented himself with merely getting his feet wet, but the mage would strip down and wriggle into the cool water with a contented sigh in just the same way as one would snuggle into a cocoon of warm blankets on a cold winter's night.

It made for an interesting picture, and Kurogane had to acknowledge another marker in the passage of time in how attractive a picture it was to him.

He'd admired the other man before, but for qualities such as agility, dexterity and wiles. Things he admired even in an enemy that he meant to strike down. The way he looked at the mage now was far indeed from the way he'd looked at him on the day they'd first met, and even on the day they'd first arrived here. Kurogane had acknowledged him as a companion however unwillingly they might have been thrown together, come to think of him as a person worthy to be relied upon, and now sometimes eyed him as potentially something more.

It was, on the surface, merely the casually treated thought that it wouldn't be unpleasant to make their interactions pleasurable, not just necessary. Being constantly together in a country where bathing was communal and bathrooms little more than thin-walled cubicles meant that there were no real opportunities for sating hunger for things other than food and drink. Kurogane could have probably found a willing partner for casual dalliance fairly easily among the soldiers, but by the time he'd begun to think of it he'd also already come to think of Fai in terms of enough friendship that he felt it not right to meet his own such needs and leave the other man to suffer. Assuming he was suffering. There were still things the ninja was utterly in the dark about.

Fai smiled many more smiles than before; tiny ones, brief warm ones, crooked little grins and sharp wicked ones that shattered into bright laughter. But there were still those careful smiles sometimes, settling over his features like a mask even when they were alone. Especially when they were alone and Kurogane was caught looking at the mage contemplatively.

Making the offer was another problem. They hadn't exactly traded the words for _that_ yet. The mage knew "yes" and "no" well enough however and the question could be asked easily without words; all Kurogane had to do was reach out. And yet again, the way he looked at Fai now, the way he saw him, held him back.

Fai was popular, respected and firmly established among the nobility, civilians and soldiers all alike as a god to be well-treated. He was gaining in fluency and smart enough to keep himself out of trouble even if circumstances changed. And yet with all this, Kurogane still felt that he was in some measure responsible for the both of them. He only had full command of the local language and enough experience of a similar country to understand the subtleties of the culture. With most of the conveniences of their current situation dependent upon Fai's continued charade as a deity, and that charade heavily dependent upon Kurogane running interference, Fai was in a sense, dependent on Kurogane. For the ninja to ask for sex would have been taking advantage.

Five moons ago he wouldn't have let that stop him, but that was five moons ago.

Now, he enjoyed the show that the mage unconsciously - probably - put on but kept himself from outright ogling. When it came time for the evening meal, Fai would reluctantly drag himself from the refreshment of the pools and Kurogane would cast his eyes around as if making sure they would not be attacked by some random predator, only occasionally glancing Fai's way as the mage got redressed. Thin clothes clung at first to wet skin, but the days on which they played in the water were hot enough to steam moisture away as they walked, and they were decent enough for the public eye by the time they returned to the castle.

Layering on clothes and armor now that it was hotter drew some petulant whining from Fai that usually made Kurogane reconsider the level of physical attraction he felt for the man, but it was pretense only on both sides. Even the ninja was grateful for the heavy cloak he still wore - not without some grumbling of his own - that marked him as Fai's man once they arrived at the sky-castle. The temperature on the battlefield stayed constant even as Yama below moved through a stately march of seasons, and the layers helped keep muscles from stiffening up at the sudden drop in temperature as they shifted ground.

Upon their return it was tempting to go straight to the baths to sluice away blood and dirt and sweat, but Kurogane had changed his opinion of more than just Fai. He'd come to appreciate the long-eared creatures they rode as well, finding them fiery and intelligent, and even coming to think of their alien-seeming traits as improvements on the horses he was used to rather than oddities to be mistrusted. Their large, splayed feet were leathery like paws and gripped at the varying terrain much better than steel-shod hooves, and their eyes and ears were keener than he'd expected. Finding them responsive to attention and fruit, he and Fai taught the beasts to respond to certain signals of heel-taps or a sharply spoken word of Celesian, and now could sometimes free their hands from the reins entirely for fighting.

They showed their appreciation for this good partnership in battle by currying the creatures themselves instead of handing them over to the stablehands, never leaving them without some little gesture of fruit or responding to head-butts asking for scratches. After tending to their mounts, they saw to themselves, heading to the baths and then to their rooms to complete their evening routine of the late meal, drinks and some more lessons in communicating.

Kurogane advanced slowly but surely in Celesian, just as Fai did in Nihongo, but they didn't know what they didn't ask. For now, that was fine.

* * *

**Author's Note:** The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me that Kurogane moved from partnership and friendship to desire and love in Yama. By the time they got to Piffle Kurogane was already far enough gone to unbend so far as to tell Fai to his face that he'd changed, and for the better. It didn't seem like enough happened in Piffle for that world to be the one in which Kurogane's feelings advanced from friendship to something more, so I think it makes sense that the love that was proven in Tokyo was first created in Yama.


	9. Chapter 9

Nearly six months in Yama and they had made enough progress in learning each other's language that they began to search a little farther afield for words and phrases to exchange and practice with. They knew what they needed to in order to talk over the day's events, and began to talk of things that they had no real need to discuss. In addition to the summer heat, they gave each other the words for autumn and winter, changing leaf color, types of grain and vegetables only harvested as the year declined, methods for heating a home, and children's games that required freezing temperatures. Kurogane taught Fai all about tapping trees for their sap and how to render the clear, thin fluid down for syrup and sugar, and Fai taught Kurogane thirty-eight new words for "snow", and sixteen words for "ice". They discovered that both countries had short hooded capes made of leather that only went down to one's shoulder blades, but Nihon's were oiled and neatly doubled and stitched while Celes's were fur-lined and the edges turned and trimmed with more fur.

Describing different types of alcohol led into the trading of descriptions of various baked sweets and detailed methods of preparing seafood, which then turned into a competition of sorts. They went hard at it for four days running, keeping running lists of recipes to avoid repetition. It became half a contest to see whose country had the most numerous ways of feeding its citizens and half a competition to make the other person forfeit due to overwhelming nausea.

Kurogane was assaulted with lavish descriptions of desserts that oozed chocolate and honey until he felt as ill as if he'd been forced to actually consume them, but he got his revenge on the fourth day when Fai turned a sickly sort of pale over the ninja's descriptions of how to pack little silver-blue river fish in salty bean paste and let them ferment in clay jars buried underground, only digging them up again when one was certain the flesh was ripe enough to slough right off the bones. It had never been a favorite dish of Kurogane's but he thought with amusement that whenever he chanced to eat it again he'd find new enjoyment in it thanks to the memory of Fai's face all twisted up in horror and disgust.

And it was startling and strange, downright unsettling even - and that fact in and of itself was startling - to think of someday being at home again, eating familiar food but with Fai and the others cut out of his life. He still wanted to go home and it made no sense that any of his companions would join him there permanently, and yet he still wondered with a frown what it would be like to part again from these people - this fey, fair-haired stalk of secrecy wrapped in fluff and smiles especially - and never see them again, never even know what happened to them or how they would live on and in what manner they would eventually die.

What would it be like to have to wonder sometimes and not be able to simply write and ask how the brats were going on? He and the mage naturally thought of their absent companions often, but Kurogane's ponderings had evolved from simply wondering where in all hells they were to mild worries that they were in trouble and he unable to assist. The ninja found that he'd become more attached than he'd realized to his earnest young student and the desert princess they were all protecting as the days went by, and it was many days since he'd last rationalized his desire to meet up with them again as simply a means to the end of someday making it home.

Whether it was because his shift in attitude had been apparent or what it was, Fai had taken a full week once to spin and painstakingly communicate an elaborate theory that the two teenagers were trapped in a world where time flowed faster than in Yama, had lived through many fantastic adventures and were now celebrating their fifteenth wedding anniversary with the help of Mokona and their ten children who were mostly strapping young boys named Kuro-something.

It had been a ridiculous tale and most of Kurogane's response had been in snorts and rolled eyes, but he'd enjoyed it all the same. It was like being at home again in a strange way, sitting with the other ninja and listening to an old soldier telling an even older tale, a feeling of easy camaraderie steeping into one's body without even needing to take any trouble in actually interacting. Sometimes during the telling of Fai's ridiculous story Kurogane hadn't even bothered himself with paying attention; he'd just let the mage's clumsy but still melodic words flow over and past him while he'd sat back and taken more than his fair share of the evening's liquor.

Kurogane suddenly found himself getting muddled up in his desires. What had once been so simple - the wish to go home and resume his life and quest for vengeance - was now cut through with little dissatisfactions. He didn't want to perpetuate this strangely plush army life in Yama by any means, nor did he wish to spend the rest of his life traveling from world to world with this motley unit, and yet the thought of resuming his old life just as it had been when he'd been sent away from it was not as satisfying as it had once been. It was a strange sort of disappointment, like trying on a comfortable old coat and finding that he'd outgrown it or downing a draught of a long-time favorite wine and finding that it no longer suited his palate.

"Why are you..." Fai began, cutting into his musings, and then frowned himself as he searched for the proper word. "...forehead angry. Flan?"

"Frown. Frowning," Kurogane corrected, then switched to Celesian to reply as was their habit. He passed his inattention off as nothing, unwilling to admit he was growing attached enough to feel that someday he would _miss_ the man, and then indicated that it was Fai's turn to share a recipe.

"No, no more," the mage laughed, throwing up his hands in defeat while also pretending to gag. "One more and you will say you enjoy to eat fish dead with worms, fish dead what hungry fox will not eat, fish dead what cat will bury." Kurogane growled at this disgusting accusation, but accepted victory fairly graciously otherwise, grateful himself to get out of this battle of stomachs.

"Now what?" Fai asked, and then went on to answer his own question. "No more of food. We'll exchange more words for...people with people." The blond dragged out the box containing all their acorn figurines, which he was fiddling with constantly, carving or drawing on features and faces so that in addition to generic soldiers and citizens they also had tiny approximations of many specific people. One cracker only remained; a tiny white button-shaped thing that Fai had added a dot of berry juice to and dubbed "Mokona".

"Ashura-ou and Yasha-ou are enemy, Yasha-ou and we are ally, Inoue-taichoi is superior and Kusanagi-san is subordinate," Fai began, listing off some relationship words that they'd long ago established. He then separated the acorns that represented three brothers under Inoue's command with whom they were friendly from the other acorns and looked inquiringly at the ninja.

"Brothers," Kurogane told him, repeating the word until Fai had it right, and then learned himself the Celesian word for it.

"If woman?" A slender finger tapped one of the acorn-brothers.

"Sister. If born first, older sister and younger brother. If born last, younger sister and older brother. If two born together, twins. If three born together, triplets." It seemed that Celes did not have specific words denoting birth order, and used the same word for "brother" regardless of older or younger. Instead of addressing children born at the same time, Fai then went on to explain that there were honorifics given to the first-born if the family was noble.

The mage switched from acorns to paper then, sketching out little groups of people such as a man and woman with an infant, and then children of various ages. Husband and wife, father and mother. Infant, toddler, child, youth, and adult. Both languages shared all these plus "uncle", "aunt", "nephew" and "niece". When it came to the word for "cousin" Celes left Nihon far behind in complexity. Kurogane had to make notes on the different words for "cousin" depending on whether the family connection came from the paternal line or the maternal and the gender of the child.

After exhausting blood relationships they began exchanging other ties, and after a few false starts successfully traded the words for "stranger", "acquaintance", "friend", "best friend", "lover", "betrothed" and "married". It turned out that Celes had gradations for "lovers" which Kurogane eventually classed as "bedmates", "courting" and "lovers" in his own language. Fai amused himself by sorting all their acorns into corresponding clusters, making some very broad assumptions in many cases. His choices were understandable, but Kurogane knew many of them to be wrong simply because he'd overheard snippets of conversations or outright endearments and propositions and all manner of things he really wished he hadn't been privy to.

"These two," he said firmly, picking up a pair of acorns out of the cluster of bedmates, "are maternal cousins, and they are _not_ that close." Too fond of jokes sometimes, especially salacious ones, and so well matched in timing and breath and winks for nods that it was no surprise that the mage had thought them lovers. He moved a few more acorns between various relation, friend and romantic categories. One trio in particular was moved from "best friend" to "lover" with a quick grin at the look of surprise on Fai's face.

"Three together?"

"Three together," Kurogane confirmed, wondering if such things weren't done in Celes. Fai gave an appreciative "hyuuu" and then laughed, however, seeming to take it in stride after just a moment or two. Another few adjustments were made, and then in a final visual sweep of the various groups, Kurogane finally noticed that Fai had placed their own acorns separately, in the "father" and "mother" groups. One particularly large acorn with the top cut into jagged spikes and dyed black with ink stood a little apart from an acorn that had a fluff of pale yellow yarn glued on top.

Kurogane snorted and picked the acorns up, giving Fai a speaking look. The mage had refused to teach him the Celes equivalent of various insults no matter how Kurogane persisted. Sometimes Fai had pretended to capitulate only to teach Kurogane something completely different, giving away at the end of their lesson the fact that he'd had the ninja reciting lines from cradle songs or romantic poems. If Kurogane wanted to growl at Fai, he had to do it in his native tongue.

"No?" Fai asked cheekily. "Husband and wife?"

"No," Kurogane snorted, and repeated himself a few more times as Fai bounced around the categories, selecting "best friends" and then "enemies" and even suggesting "god superior" and "priest subordinate". Fai handed the acorns off to him then with a dramatic pout.

"You do," Fai demanded, declaring with reproachful gaze and huffily crossed arms that he found his companion entirely too picky and not at all enough fun to be borne with.

Kurogane rolled his eyes and glanced over the remaining groups, continuing to dismiss this one and that in a matter-of-fact manner. An impulse took him then, a long time building and suddenly rising up all demanding, and he quickly tossed out all except for two categories.

"Friends. Or bedmates," he said in the end, noting the remaining options, and then dumped the two acorns in front of his companion who'd gone utterly quiet and still. Fai almost flinched as the little figurines clattered and spun on the table before him and then looked at the ninja, a bit more wide-eyed than usual but his face otherwise carefully neutral and graced with a faint, careful smile. But in that hastily cast up mask, Kurogane could now see little cracks. Fai was barely breathing.

"It's up to you," Kurogane said.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** If you'd asked Kurogane five and a half months ago if Fai could help alleviate the homesickness that Yama was creating in him, he would have given you a flat negative. And yet here he is, spending hours and hours relaxing with the mage, "familiar scents and sensations drawing the tension out of his shoulders while letting a well-known voice wash over him without needing to pay much attention to the words." Put _that_ in your pipe and smoke it, Kuro-pun.

I ended it here and left it open-ended because 1) CLAMP and 2) I wrote the story as a gift for another person, and in their "likes" they had mentioned canon compliance. I felt like putting these two in bed together would change the private conversation that Fai has with Yuuko in Tokyo, because really, after being naked with someone it's hard to keep up the lie that you're keeping things professional and impersonal. I was afraid that I was pushing it even by letting Fai know that Kurogane desired him, but thankfully my giftee seemed to really enjoy the story. *phew*

In my head I like to think that Fai caves to his own increasing desires but makes Kurogane agree that it will only be in Yama that they'll be bedmates, and when they move on to the next world they'll revert to being friends. Kurogane doesn't agree to this at first, but later accepts the condition. He growls, "Guess I'll have to make it so good _you'll_ be the one to break the agreement later" as they begin to drag each other's clothes askew, but he says it so quickly that Fai doesn't understand.


End file.
